pierce @ 60

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S T R A T E G I C P L A N

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F R A N K L I N P I E R C E S T R AT E G I C P L A N

Dear Fellow Ravens:

Franklin Pierce University is ever evolving. Fueled by an institutional commitment to strategic and long-range planning and by a community invested in the success of students and the University, we are poised to proactively pursue opportunities and adapt to challenges as we approach our 60th year in 2022.

The array of pressures currently shaping higher education, from shrinking enrollment demographics and doubt in the value of a college degree to the unknown long-term impacts of the global pandemic, pushes us to imagine our future with a sense of renewed purpose and urgency. Together, we must rise to this historic moment and leverage our creativity, courage, and resilience to pursue the strategic goals outlined in this Pierce@60 document.

Building from the successful implementation of our previous strategic plan, Engage: Advancing and Sustaining Raven Nation, we now launch Pierce@60, an ambitious, results-oriented strategic plan that incorporates our values of inclusion and innovation throughout.

A plan that capitalizes on the strengths of our diverse community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the University. A plan that secures Franklin Pierce University’s reputation as a destination institution for relevant educational programs attuned to regional and national cultural and economic forces.

L E T T E R F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T

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I extend my sincerest gratitude to the more than 35 members of the Franklin Pierce community who participated in the Pierce@60 goal development working groups during the summer of 2019. We are indebted to another 200 faculty, staff, and students who offered thoughtful reflections for the revisions of our University Mission and Vision statements and for the development of our new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity statement. Pierce@60 has been a community effort. We have surely created a culture of planning at Franklin Pierce University—one that has helped us realize success and chart our path toward even greater institutional excellence.

Ever forward,

Kim Mooney ’83President

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“ T O G E T H E R , W E M U S T R I S E T O T H I S H I S T O R I C M O M E N T

A N D L E V E R A G E O U R C R E A T I V I T Y, C O U R A G E ,

A N D R E S I L I E N C E . ”


F R A N K L I N P I E R C E U N I V E R S I T Y D E L I V E R S P R O G R A M S A N D E D U C A T I O N A L E X P E R I E N C E S T H A T D E V E L O P E S S E N T I A L I N T E L L E C T U A L A N D P R O F E S S I O N A L S K I L L S ;

P R O M O T E S C L O S E C O M M U N I T Y C O N N E C T I O N S ;

A N D E M P O W E R S O U R S T U D E N T S T O R E A L I Z E T H E I R P O T E N T I A L T H R O U G H T H E I N T E R S E C T I O N O F H I G H L Y P E R S O N A L I Z E D L I B E R A L L E A R N I N G , I N N O V A T I V E E N G A G E M E N T , A N D P R O F E S S I O N A L P R O G R A M M I N G .

M I S S I O N S T A T E M E N T


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Franklin Pierce University will be a leader in innovative teaching and experiential learning, having a positive social and economic impact on its communities. The University will establish a legacy for its unique ability to support and prepare students to thrive as leaders and engaged members of society.

• In the intrinsic worth of every person.• In the value of diversity and inclusion.• That our differences—perspectives, experiences,

backgrounds—strengthen our community.• That Franklin Pierce University is a place where all

are welcome.

• Embracing every person for who they are and who they wish to become.

• Addressing inequality and promoting equity.• Fostering a culture of care, respect, and safety within and

outside the University.• Nurturing the self-discovery and self-worth of every student.

V I S I O N S T A T E M E N T

D I V E R S I T Y, E Q U I T Y, A N D I N C L U S I V I T Y

We Believe:

We Are Dedicated To:


With direction and encouragement from President Mooney, Franklin Pierce University has developed a culture of ongoing strategic and long-range planning. Our strategic planning efforts never rest—they are unending and involve the entire University community.

The seeds of Pierce@60 were planted in the fall of 2018 at the now annual Bagel Jam on the Rindge campus and Pizza Jam at the Manchester Center. Here, faculty, staff, and students were asked for feedback—what is Franklin Pierce University known for? What do we do really well? What could we do better? Feedback and collaboration were followed up in January 2019 with a facilitated Professional Development and Training Day in which more than 100 colleagues from all areas of the University participated in work sessions that teased out these questions further. Colleagues were probed regarding the 2016-2020 strategic plan, Engage, and offered insight and perspective on the ongoing work of the plan, with an eye toward looking forward. A listening session focused on diversity and inclusion served as the keynote workshop, whereby participants were required to listen—not respond—to the individual experiences of Franklin Pierce University students on topics such as race, gender identity, religion, and sexual orientation. This session served as the launching pad for more focused University-wide conversations relative to diversity, equity, and inclusion at Franklin Pierce.

A facilitated conversation with President Mooney and Senior Staff followed the Bagel and Pizza Jams and the January event outlining the events’ emerging themes. These themes included: financial stability, enrollment and retention imperatives, academic programming and market trends, and nurturing our internal and external community.

During the summer of 2019, five working groups were identified and included more than 35 members of faculty, staff, and students. Each working group was charged with developing one of the four emerging goals. A fifth group was charged with revising our existing Mission and Vision Statements as well as crafting a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Statement for the University.

The working groups developed the preliminary content for the revisions to the Mission and Vision statements; development of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity statement; and the four overarching goals of the strategic plan:

T H E S T R A T E G I C P L A N N I N G P R O C E S S

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1. Innovation: Program Development and Teaching and Learning2. Living the Franklin Pierce University Experience3. Securing our Financial Future4. Optimizing our Market, Enrollment, and Net Revenue

Over the course of the fall 2019 semester, multiple feedback sessions took place to gather input on the new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity statement and Mission and Vision statements as well as further development of objectives that will bring each of the goals to life.

Pierce@60 was crafted in December 2019 with a draft presented to President Mooney in early 2020. The plan was endorsed by the Board of Trustees at their March 2020 meeting. Goal Champions are charged with tailoring divisional goals and objectives to align with our intuitional aspirations.

Pierce@60 builds upon the ongoing success that Franklin Pierce University experienced as part of Engage, and does not exist in isolation. Strategic and long-range planning continues to take place—the culture of planning at Franklin Pierce University remains ongoing, proactive, and fruitful.

• Distinguish itself from peers and competitors as it relates to innovations in program development and delivery.

• Expand its footprint programmatically, responding to a rapidly changing higher education landscape.

• Continue to boast strong fiscal management that invests in strategic priorities and reduces tuition dependence.

• Realize gains in student retention at both the Rindge campus as well as in graduate and online programming.

• Foster our diversity, equity, and inclusion values.• Communicate its success through robust internal and external communications.• Develop and invest in its greatest asset—the people who comprise Raven Nation.

E X P E C T E D O U T C O M E S

Franklin Pierce University will:


O B J E C T I V E S :

• Design, construct, and launch a University-wide Center for Teaching and Learning.

• Launch a 100% online experience for residential students.

• Develop and establish online portfolios for all students.• Credential instructors in digital literacy and First

Year Inquiry.• Initiate a comprehensive review and revision of the

general education program.• Create experiential learning opportunities for all

undergraduate students.

Innovation in Teaching and Learning

Academic and co-curricular programming are the lifeblood of Franklin Pierce University. The programs that we offer must resonate with the demands of the broader marketplace and differentiate us as an institution that meets the needs of those individuals who choose to enroll at Franklin Pierce. Innovation is central to the way programs are developed and in the methods through which students are taught. In a rapidly changing world, Franklin Pierce University must be bold, nimble, imaginative, and deliberate in the programs offered and must harness the collective creativity and expertise of both internal and external experts relative to how faculty engage with students and how students today and those in the future prefer to learn.

G O A L 1 :

Innovation: Program Development and Teaching and Learning

Innovation in Program Development

• Develop a comprehensive expansion plan for the Goodyear Center in Arizona, inclusive of both current and aspirant academic programs, partnerships, and community relations alongside a feasibility study to expand programming in other locations.

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Innovation in Program Development, continued

• Explore the development of credentialing, badging, and stackable certificates.

• Maintain program currency and viability utilizing input from program development, program review, and program viability reporting as well as the Executive Director of Professional Programs and Partnerships.

• Develop new programs that serve student wants and needs and provide relevant career development.

• Charge the Executive Director of Professional Programming and Partnerships with expanding and maximizing existing partnership agreements. – Identify new partners in concert with recommendations

from the Business Relations Task Force. – Develop channel partnerships that promote existing

programs. – Identify needs of corporate partners and strategize

methods of potential delivery.• Update and promote the self-designed major.• Develop a 3-4-5 plan (include 3+1, 3+2) that combines

existing undergraduate and graduate programming; allows for year-round enrollment; and tailors unique timelines for degree completion.

• Review and potentially recalibrate existing programs and launch new market-driven academic programs—a minimum of three per academic year.

• Develop program opportunities that attract and retain student-athletes.

• Identify five undergraduate degrees that can be streamlined into three-year degree programs and collaborate with Marketing to aggressively market these opportunities. – Explore and implement a 100% online option for

General and Liberal Education in order to support three-year degree programs.


The Franklin Pierce community is our greatest strength as an institution. Our community seeks and values opportunities to engage with one another, to foster relationships, and to nurture students and the professional development of faculty and staff. Living the Franklin Pierce University experience varies for each of our community members, but it is that experience that bonds us, often for lifetimes. We are committed to acknowledging and honoring all Franklin Pierce constituents—students, alumni, faculty, staff, trustees, and friends—for the ways they enrich this community.

G O A L 2 :


Living the Franklin Pierce University Experience

Establish Franklin Pierce University as a community that engages people of diverse backgrounds and choices.

Optimize Avenues for Sustainability

• Create an Office of Diversity and Inclusion, led by a Chief Diversity Officer with functional staffing to support work with undergraduates, graduates, faculty, staff, and local communities.

• Emphasize the hiring, advancing, and retention of diverse candidates until all areas of the University (administration, faculty, and staff) reflect the diversity of the students that we serve.

• In partnership with Academic Affairs and each of the Colleges, develop a curriculum map that demonstrates where diversity, equity, and inclusion are addressed and conduct an audit across non-academic portions of the University. Based on this map and corresponding audit, identify opportunities for program development and faculty/staff training.

• Complete a campus-wide sustainability audit and subsequently develop a plan to support sustainability.

• Increase education/participation opportunities across the University, create a curriculum map showing where sustainability topics are being addressed, and create a similar audit across non-academic programs to identify needs for faculty/staff training.

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Enhance University Communication, Cooperation, and Sense of Community

Expand and Optimize Franklin Pierce University’s Presence

• Continue ongoing engagement focus via 2016-2020 strategic plan, Engage.

• Develop a new employee onboarding program to support all new employees as they join the Franklin Pierce community.

• Support all employees through a consistent performance review process, developing necessary documents and providing training for leadership to proctor.

• Create a mandatory, comprehensive training program for all leadership positions—what does leadership mean? What does being a leader at Franklin Pierce University look like?

• Research and introduce new models of staffing with greater flexibility for managers to address productivity and work/life balance (e.g., flexible scheduling, remote work opportunities).

• Evaluate and improve articulation agreements with regional community colleges in New England and Arizona.

• Evaluate and improve athletics’ appeal to surrounding towns.

• Explore the ability of music, arts, and theater programs to enhance community engagement.

• Promote recreational resources to improve community relations.

• Promote campus and academic center speakers and events to the public to maximize external attendance.

• Evaluate and develop a Franklin Pierce “knowledge base” of experts for external communication.


As a young higher education institution in comparison to others in the Northeast, Franklin Pierce University is tuition dependent, relying heavily on enrollments and net tuition revenue in order to sustain programming and operations. Securing our financial future requires not only careful planning of such tuition revenues, but also laying the groundwork to shift the trajectory of the University’s tuition dependence. This demands growth in University Advancement revenue in each of the years of Pierce@60 and a comprehensive capital campaign to be launched soon thereafter.

G O A L 3 :

Securing Our Financial Future


• Develop a three-year financial plan for the University inclusive of enrollment and retention goals, strategic fundraising, and net tuition revenue.

• Reduce tuition dependence through 3% year-over-year growth in the Pierce Annual Fund for the duration of the strategic plan.

• Perform critical analysis relative to expenses; reallocate and reduce operational dollars as part of ongoing strategic and long-range planning.

• Complete a University-wide facilities master plan, mindful of accessibility and ADA needs outlined by all divisions.

• Develop a 12-month operational plan for the Rindge campus and academic centers that includes enrollment planning.

• Complete a strategic plan specifically for University Advancement that incorporates Pierce@60 goals and a feasibility study for a capital campaign no later than 2022.


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“ I N N O V A T I O N I S C E N T R A L T O T H E W A Y P R O G R A M S A R E D E V E L O P E D A N D I N T H E M E T H O D S T H R O U G H W H I C H S T U D E N T S A R E T A U G H T . ”


As trends for prospective enrollments shift downward, optimization of markets, enrollments, and overall net revenues necessitate ongoing data analysis and collaboration between Academic Affairs, Athletics, Enrollment Management, and each of the University’s Colleges. A retention imperative, previously communicated in Engage is also essential and must expand beyond the Rindge campus to include both graduate and online programming. Additionally, robust University and enrollment marketing strategies are critical to the University’s optimization efforts, warranting ongoing investment and analysis of value.

• No later than May 31, 2020, Enrollment Management will collaborate with Finance and University Advancement to complete a three-year financial plan for the University.

• The Rindge campus will achieve a Fall-to-Fall, First-Time, Full-Time cohort (IPEDS) retention rate of no less than 80% by 2024, sustaining this retention rate through the duration of this plan.

• The following graduate and online undergraduate programs will demonstrate term-to-term retention rates by 2024 and sustain these rates for the duration of the plan:

• Enrollment Management in concert with Marketing and Communications will craft a three-year University Marketing and Communications plan, addressing findings via the collaborative efforts of the Thorburn Group.

G O A L 4 :


Optimizing Our Market, Enrollment, and Net Revenue

– UG 88% – UG COB

88%

– BSN 78% – MBA 90% – MSN 83%

– MEd 85% – MSA 85%

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This plan will include: – Implementation of a Brand Campaign initiative. – Development of a content strategy that embraces

an institutional messaging platform and creates a sustainable system to populate our media channels.

– Methods to increase Franklin Pierce University’s name identity in Maricopa County, Arizona, to align with institutional plans with that region and other markets.

– Leverage Northeast 10 Conference (NE10) airtime for advertisements specific to Franklin Pierce.

• In concert with Marketing and Communications, develop a comprehensive communications plan that is both internal and external, taking its lead from strategic planning initiatives.


B O A R D O F T R U S T E E S :

Leslye A. ArshtJohn T. Burke ’66

Steven V. CamerinoElizabeth Di Pietro

Caryl FelicettaCarol Houle ’97

Genevieve McGillicuddy ’94Al N. Marulli, Jr. ’69

Kim Mooney ’83, PresidentSean O’Kane, Secretary

Frederick W. Pierce, IV, Chair of the BoardRobert F. Riley ’82Teresa Rosenberger

Jonathan Slavin ’92, Vice-Chair of the BoardTerrell Boston Smith ’05

T R U S T E E E M E R I T I :

Lloyd Astmann ’69Carleen Farrell ’71Marlin Fitzwater

*Franklin Pierce University Board of Trustee membership, 2020-2021

pierce @ 60

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